Lee Morgan | jazzcollector.com

Another Blue Note Tuesday

November 4, 2014 Al 15 comments

I spent some time on eBay the other day and wound up putting a bunch of Blue Notes into my watch list, starting with Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This looks to be an original West 63rd Street pressing in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. The auction closes later today and the bidding is already more than $1,000.

Walter Davis Jr., Davis Cup, Blue Note 4018. This looks to be an original pressing listed in M- condition for both the record and the cover. The auction closes later today and so far there are no bidders at a start price of about $750. I would expect this one to sell, wouldn’t you?

This seller has a lot of nice items on eBay this week, including Art Blakey, A Night at Birdland Volume 2, Blue Note 1522. This looks to be an original Lexington Avenue pressing in M- condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The start price is $350 with no bidders so far. There is also a buy-it-now price of $700.

Reserving Some Jazz Vinyl (Or Not)

October 6, 2014 Al 22 comments

How desperate are you for one of the rarer of the Blue Notes, Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590? This looks to be an original pressing with all sorts of issues. The cover is VG and the record has two skips. Hmm. Someone has bid $300 for the record but the seller has a reserve price that has not yet been met. Seems like the seller can’t afford a camera so perhaps that’s why he’s holding out for a higher price.

Here’s another one with camera issues: Johnny Griffin, A Blowing Session, Blue Note 1559. This looks to be an original pressing with the New York 23 labels. The record is listed in M- condition and the cover is listed as VG++ or M-, although it would be hard to tell from the cover picture, which seems as if it was taken in a coffin. This bidding has topped $500 for this record, but, alas, it has also not reached the seller’s reserve price.

The same seller put up a fine picture of this record: Donald Byrd, Byrd Jazz, Transition 5. This is an original pressing

Shades of Jazz Collector

September 16, 2014 Al 13 comments

Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd, Blue Note 4045. This was an original West 63rd pressing, listed in VG+ condition for both the record and the cover. I had it on my watch list because I was actually considering a bid for it. As loyal readers know, this one has been my nemesis for years. I forgot to put in a bid because I am still buried in work and also having computer problems, so I let it pass. Wouldn’t have mattered anyway. It sold for $762, which is quite a bit more than I would pay for the record, particularly in VG+ condition. I think there’s something to be said about waiting and waiting for the records you want, and going through the hunt, rather than filling in your gaps by paying a lot of money on eBay. I have enough records if I want to listen, and if I really want to listen to Shades of Redd I have two nice Japanese pressings, one in each home. I can wait, and I can hunt.

A separate “Red” listing from the same seller inspired a note from our friend CeeDee, as follows: “I thought that this one my slip by, but NOOOOOOO. Better luck next time.” The listing in question:

Alas, Condition Counts

June 18, 2014 Al Leave a comment

Back to the business of watching records on eBay, starting with: Lee Morgan, Search for the New Land, Blue Note 4169. This is not typically thought of as one of Morgan’s collectible albums and, indeed, it only shows up twice in the Jazz Collector Price Guide and in neither case did it break the $100 barrier. In this listing, however, the seller adds an interesting twist. He claims he bought the album sealed, never played it or opened it, and then broke the seal to list it on eBay to determine whether it was an original pressing, which, surprise, it actually is. So, if the seller is to be believed (I say, why not), then this is truly a mint record. The price has been bid up accordingly and is now at $200 with more than two days to condition.

Here’s another from Lee: Lee Morgan, The Cooker, Blue Note 1578. This looks to be an original pressing with the West 63rd address, deep grooves, ears, etc. It is listed in VG+ condition for the record and M- for the cover. I’d expect that the bidding would reach at least into the $500 range, given what we’re seeing with VG+ Blue Notes of this era, and perhaps

Blue Note

Cool Jazz Art, Record Collector Photos, Candy

June 11, 2014 Al 16 comments

Time to clear out the email inbox.

For those of you interested in jazz art work, photography and ephemera, there is an auction coming up next week of works collected by the former Blue Note president Bruce Lundvall. The collection is being auctioned by Doyle New York, and parts of it can be seen here, including this pretty cool picture of Miles at the right. Cool stuff. Not necessarily my thing, but cool. Now, if he were to sell of his vinyl, that would be another story.

Speaking of artwork, I find this to be cool as well: A photographer by the name of Eilon Paz has spent several years photographing record collectors with their collections and has recently published them in a book titled “Dust and Grooves: Adventures in Record Collecting.” You can check out the article here and the Web site here. The photographer is in Brooklyn. Surprised he hasn’t found me yet. Perhaps now he will.

CeeDee sends me random notes and listings of records that are typically out of both his price range and mine as well. Here’s a recent one:

What Was That About Condition?

May 19, 2014 Al 23 comments

Been way behind on my posting and even my eBay watching. Lots of stuff going on here. When I left off, these were some of the jazz records I was watching on eBay, starting with: Lee Morgan Sextet, Blue Note 1541. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was in VG+ condition and the cover was only VG, with tape, writing, a sticker and shelf wear. The record sold for $2,324. Yes, that is not a typographical error. I was thinking of making a pithy comment, but I seem to be out of pith this morning. I will leave the pith to you, dear readers.

J.R. Monterose, Blue Note 1536. This looked to be an original Lexington Avenue pressing as well. The record and cover were in VG condition, and the seller mentioned the word “scratches” so that would definitely be a red flag. This one sold for $323.80, reasonable, I would say, but still $2,000 less than the Morgan record.

While we’re on Blue Notes, here’s another that fetched quite a nice price:

Candy, An Autograph and 10-Inch Vinyl

March 29, 2014 Al 11 comments

Here are a few more items from our watch list on eBay, starting with Lee Morgan, Candy, Blue Note 1590. This is an original pressing that looks to be in VG++ condition for both the record and the cover. As a bidder I would be careful of the “light background noise” part of the description because the cleanest copies of Blue Notes don’t typically have background noise, at least not the original 12-inch pressings. Other bidders seem to be more sanguine about the description. The bidding is now in the $1,800 range with two days left.

Dizzy Gillespie Volume 1, Atlantic 138. This looks to be an original 10-inch pressing signed on the front by Dizzy Gillespie. I’m sure Don-Lucky or one of our other readers will weigh in on the authenticity of the autograph. The cover looks to be in VG+ condition and the record is described as VG+ as well. Bidding is in the range of $110 and there’s more than a day left on the auction.

Speaking of 10-inch records, we also had our eyes on these: Read more

A Unique Way of Listing (And It Pays Off)

March 13, 2014 Al 10 comments

I’m preparing to update the Jazz Collector Price Guide so I’m going through my watch list and catching up on some items I may have missed, starting with: The Unique Thelonious Monk, Riverside 209. This was described as an original white label pressing in VG+ condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. The listing was quite weird in that there were no pictures of the actual record or cover. Instead, there was a canned picture that looked as if it came off the Internet. No harm, at least to the seller. This one wound up selling for $531. That’s the highest price we’ve ever seen for that record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. Maybe it pays to not post pictures, huh?

Art Blakey, A Night at Birdland Volume 1, Blue Note 1521. This was an original Lexington Avenue pressing. The record was probably in VG+ condition and the cover was M-. This one sold for $510.

Sanity and Insanity, Redux

March 5, 2014 Al 26 comments

Oh, now I see why there was so much discussion on my previous post about Lee Morgan, City Lights, Blue Note 1575. It sold for $1,525. That’s the highest price we’ve seen for this record in the Jazz Collector Price Guide. I had estimated the value of my copy at $1,000. Perhaps I need to make an adjustment.

This one also ended up in the stratosphere: Cliff Jordan, Cliff Craft, Blue Note 1582. This was an original West 63rd Street pressing in M- condition for the record and VG+ for the cover. It sold for $1,510.

I’ve been thinking a little bit about some of the judgments we (or I) have been making about some of the prices being paid for non-original pressings or for prices that seem to defy normal expectations. People can pay whatever they want for these records and, in the end, who’s to say that they won’t get tremendous enjoyment and satisfaction out of a United Artists Jutta Hipp Blue Note or an original Kind of Blue with a ringwear-pocked cover. And maybe even these records will turn out to be a good investment years from now and we’ll all look back and regret not loading up on later Blue Note pressings.

Records That Are Not Quite Records

February 19, 2014 Al 5 comments

Let’s catch up on a few more jazz records from our watch list, starting with: George Wallington, New York Scene, New Jazz 8207. This was an original pressing with the deep grooves and the purple label. The record and cover both looked to be in VG++ condition. The price was $698, which we though was the highest we’ve ever seen for this record until we looked at the Jazz Collector Price Guide and realized that we’ve seen this one sell for as much as $865. I literally bought a copy of this record for a quarter many years ago, when one of the young workers at Mr. Cheapo in Mineola mistakenly threw it into the bargain bin, for which I have been forever grateful.

That copy of Sonny Clark, Cool Struttin’ that we were watching would up selling for $3,507, also not a record, but a pretty hefty price indeed.

I just sold a copy of this record to a dealer, and I would have expected it to get a higher price than it did here:

« 1 … 7 8 9 10 11 … 24 »